Saturday, December 24, 2011

Gurgaon: The Millennium City is all set to grow spatially. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the Town and Country Planning department are planning to develop as many as 58 new sectors. The fresh spate of development will stretch the city towards Badshahpur and Sohna townships located towards the south.

The process of acquiring land for the project is underway, sources said. As of now, 1,417 acres of land are being acquired from eight villages for the first-phase of work under which 10 sectors (58 to 67) will be developed. While Sectors 58 to 63 will be residential, Sectors 65, 66 and 67 will be residentialcum-commercial areas.

This is being done in accordance with the Gurgaon-Manesar Masterplan-2021, which has a provision for developing as many as 115 sectors in the city. The plan also envisages a multi-utility corridor and a commercial belt to be developed in the upcoming sectors. Land acquisition notification for these sectors under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act has been completed and the case for Section 6 proceedings has been referred to the state authorities. Similarly, acquisition proceedings under Section 4 are in process for Sectors 81 to 95 and 99 to 115 (Sectors 96, 97 and 98 are industrial sectors).

“We have acquired the land required for providing essential services like roads, sewer system, power and water lines, etc so that work on the plan can get started right away. By the time we reach the final stages of acquiring land for residential plots and other services, the essential utilities will be ready,” maintained a senior HUDA official. The initial work is expected to be completed by the end of this financial year.

Property pundits and realestate developers feel that the upcoming sectors will give the much-needed fillip to the property market, which is still in the process of recovering from the impact of global economic slowdown.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Nearly half of non-resident Indians (NRIs) plan to buy property in India for investment purposes, according to a survey released by Sumansa Exhibitions. Conducted amongst 15,000 NRIs across the UAE, the survey revealed that Mumbai and Delhi grabbed the top spots as the extremely viable options for property investments since the cities continued to be the most robust real estate markets in the country.Pune, Gurgaon and Noida have emerged as hotspots for investments making it to the top five list of favourable cities. The study further indicates that NRI’s are not necessarily looking at their hometowns for investments.

Sunil Jaiswal, CEO of Sumansa Exhibitions, organisers of Indian Property Show, said: “The survey result is not surprising as Mumbai and Delhi are the most promising markets as far as RoI (return on investment) and net profitability is concerned. Both these cities enjoy commercial prominence, location advantage and increasing wealth, as such the growth momentum either has continued or is stable even if the world markets have experienced economic crisis. Factoring all the advantages these cities have, the scene will not change in near future. NRI does still consider that investing in these cities will be profitable. Pune, Gurgaon and Noida are in the top 5 as they enjoy the advantage of being in close proximity of the main cities.”

Honey Katiyal, CEO, Investors Clinic, India’s leading real estate consultancy, said: “NRIs are choosing other cities apart from their hometowns and especially Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Gurgaon and Noida, which reflects the sentiments that the investors are looking for good investment options for increasing their wealth. These cities are favourable as investors can make good profit as the real estate prices in past few years have spiraled enormously and will witness upward trend in future, barring 10-15 per cent correction in some parts of these cities, plus the cities give good rental income. Home loans and other facilities from Banks & Builders can also be availed quickly, all this makes them good options for investment. We as one of the India’s largest real estate management consultancies have seen this trend and expect the same to continue in foreseeable future”.

Katiyal said NRIs stand to gain from the sharp slide in rupee over last two weeks. The rupee has depreciated more than 16 per cent against the US dollar since July 2011. This has made homes in India increasingly cheaper in dollar price terms, an attractive proportion specially at a time the real estate sector in the developed markets remain depressed. Little wonder then, NRI’s have been looking at the homes back home with renewed interest.

Friday, December 2, 2011

GURGAON: Despite abundant supply, commercial and office spaces on Sohna Road are far from occupied. Experts say that developers have to throw some fringe benefits other than just pricing discounts to attract potential tenants.

Added to this, a poor infrastructure in the area like the absence of schools, bad roads and heavy truck traffic, it might take some time for the area to gain popularity.

However, there is no substantial demand in the whole of Gurgaon at present and hence this will be a deciding factor in the next six to nine months as to whether prices will stabilise or move up. Also, due to this gap in supply and demand, anchor tenants would command a discount."

Real estate analysts feel that with the quantum of supply and a stagnant demand, the developer needs to go the extra mile to offer things like rent free periods; create environment and lower maintenance to attract tenants/buyers.

Dr Sanjay Sharma of QuBREX added: "In terms of residential options, there is pretty high occupancy. However, neither are the malls nor office spaces doing well there. No premium brand has settled there in terms of retail space.

Even the vacancy in terms of office space is mind-boggling as a trip in the evening will show. Further, the Metro has not yet reached Sohna Road to be able to attract a lot of office-goers."

Also, since there is huge space (almost two million sq-feet) it is hard to imagine the prices or rents going sky-high, especially as there are many other options available in Gurgaon at alternative locations, that too at reasonable rates, felt experts.

Ramesh Menon, director portal of Delhi-masterplan.com, averred: "With Delhi throwing up almost 25,000 hectares of developable land in 2011, along with progressive policies, areas farther from Delhi wouldn't remain that attractive. With favourable land pricing, the Delhi opportunity is likely to eclipse parts of Gurgaon drastically."

Also, since Sohna Road has been developed by multiple developers, it lacks cohesion of master planning. It has not evolved in character as a sub-city with the concept of 'walk-to-work'.

Though every development has adhered to their project level density norms, at the sub-city level, the entire stretch seems inconsonant to the other developed areas of Gurgaon.

"Both inter-city as well as intra-city transportation is a challenge for Sohna Road residents, with an additional expense incurred towards connecting with the Metro. The distance from the airport, railway station, Metro and other recreational places too are a deterrent. The physical and social infrastructure in proportion to the density of dwelling units is not up to the mark on Sohna Road, which deters corporate houses from mooting the idea of shifting internally to their employees," added Ruchika Bhardwaj, lead analyst of Certes Realty Ltd.

This is also evident with several developers switching their projects midway from retail to office spaces. "The commercial real estate has recorded a consistent annual appreciation of 25 to 30% in the past several years in this area. The future perceives huge real estate growth in residential as well as commercial sectors of Sohna Road," said an Omaxe spokesperson.

Added Ravi Saund, head-Business Development, CHD Developers Ltd: "Commercial real estate can be divided into two - office space and retail. As far as the former is concerned, there is a lot of supply waiting for occupancy on Sohna Road. However, it should stabilise and improve in the coming months. But retail is yet to show signs of recovery."

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Gurgaon is the commercial city of Haryana. It offers world class standard of living and globally comparable business address in the form of IT parks and Business Centers. Real estate is booming at a fast pace in this futuristic city of India. It can be witnessed from the number of new buildings coming up in the city. Another big plus for this city is its proximity to New Delhi's International airport and India's capital New Delhi which has spurred a lot of construction activity by several leading Indian construction companies like Unitech, Emmar MGF, Vatika and DLF. Good quality office, commercial and residential complexes have proved attractive to many companies who have shifted their corporate and back offices from New Delhi's business centers to Gurgaon.

Gurgaon has earned global recognition as one of the best IT and ITES destination. It is the most preferred destination for the corporate executives and the multi-national companies that want space in Delhi. Falling interest rates coupled with the increase in foreign direct investment and a positive stock boom has resulted in increased activity in the real estate market in Gurgaon.